Daily Prophets
Day 47
“Holy, Holy, Holy! The Lord of Hosts! God’s presence fills all the earth. Woe is me, I am lost! I am a man of unclean lips, I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my own eyes have beheld the Lord of Hosts. One of the Seraphs flew over to me with a live coal… He touched it to my lips and declared, Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt shall depart and your sin be purged away”(Isaiah 6:3,5,6,7).
While this is a lot of text, I wanted to ensure the proper context for today’s thoughts. Isaiah is having an encounter with The Ineffable One that is so overpowering he can’t adequately describe it. “Holy, Holy Holy… is the Kodosh prayer that we say in the morning and in the twice-daily recitation of the Amidah(except on Shabbat and Holidays when we add an extra recitation of the Amidah(standing prayer). As I read this, I became overwhelmed myself with the trembling fear and awe of Isaiah, I live in the presence of God all the time and I do not realize it most of the time! God’s presence filling the entire earth is the prophet’s way of telling the people to WAKE UP-stop thinking you are the boss of everything and you are in control.
Isaiah’s response to seeing God and experiencing the Seraphim is to cry and realize his own nature and what his shortcomings are and what he longs for. He is lost, I believe because, like all of us, he lives in awe and wonder of God and knows he has “unclean lips” which can mean a great many things. I prefer to understand this phrase as meaning lies we tell ourselves and lies we tell others. These lies lead us to ruin and destruction.
Isaiah’s being able to “beheld the Lord of Hosts” is the signal that God knows we are “unclean” and wants us anyway. God knows we are imperfect and desires connection with us. Once we connect, the Seraphim help to make our “guilt depart and your sin shall be purged away”. What a hopeful message which is what the prophets keep trying to bring to all of us, yet we are bogged down with the fear of change and don’t believe the consequences of our behavior will be so bad.
In The Prophets, Rabbi Heschel has a subchapter called the strange disparity where he says: “The two staggering facts in the life of a prophet are: God’s turning to him and man’s turning away form him.”(pg.188). He goes on to say: “It was a major enigma that confronted the prophet: How is it possible… not to sense that the whole world is full of His glory, not to understand God’s sign in the happenings of history? What we call the irrational nature or man, they called hardness of the heart.”(pg189). The prophet was unable to grasp the irrational ways of humans in the face of the majesty of God. Yet, they kept on trying, which is Rabbi Heschel’s call to all of us.
In our political realm, our lawmakers seem to be unable to experience the majesty of God in their own chambers. Instead of lamenting their “unclean lips” they are acting in irrational ways towards each other and towards the people they are supposed to be representing and the principles of country and God. We witness the hardening of hearts when we listen to Senators speak out against guaranteeing a minimum wage that in many parts of the country still is not a livable income! We are engaged in a battle with people who don’t even know that they are lost. As we prepare for Passover and liberation from slavery; I ask our lawmakers to allow the Angels to put coal to their lips and purge their sin and allow their guilt to depart.
In recovery, we know that “the glory of God fills the earth” because that is the only way we can be in recovery and continue to grow our recovery. Without God, we are back to old ways. Our lips have been touched by hot coal, we have gone through the purifying fire of inventory, amends and changing our old ways. We have adhered to a life of “rigorous honesty” as it says in Chapter 5 of the Big Book. We continue to do our 10th step so we can see where we have been less than rigorously honest and repair that damage. We hang out with people who are like-minded and on the same path seeking “God’s will for us and the power to carry it out”. We don’t look to be perfect, we only “seek spiritual progress”. Then we get the honor and privilege to be a messenger to people who still suffer, in many ways the 12th step of AA is similar to the work of the prophets. How blessed are we!
My acceptance of God’s glory filling the earth happened a long time ago. My continued growth along spiritual lines continues to this day. My purging of my sins and my guilt departing is a daily activity. Tonight marks one year since my last big error. While I was being me, the unrestrained me, and, had been honored for being me 2 years prior, I was wrong for my action and I acknowledged and made tshuvah/amends immediately. Other people decided I had to go and here we are. I observe this Shabbat with sadness, reverence and guilt-free. I know that the sin has been purged from me and I know that being me is not acceptable when I am all of me in certain settings. I am sad at the loss of community and relationships because of legal reasons. I am sad that lawyers are speaking instead of having a conversation between people. I am in acceptance and grateful to be of service in any way I am needed. I know God’s Glory fills my world, does it yours? Stay safe and God Bless, Rabbi Mark